birth plan

It seems to me that you should make a plan together with your midwife; they guide you through your entire pregnancy and birth.

With my first, I didn’t make a birth plan because complications during pregnancy meant he was born way too early, so I just let things happen. That made me realize what I wanted to do differently for a second pregnancy. I discussed my plan with my midwife and later with the hospital since I had to give birth there. That way, I could also check if my birth plan was realistic and clear. I used my midwife’s website and grabbed a sample birth plan to see if I had included everything that was important to me. Keep it short—no longer than one A4 page with clear, concise sentences so it’s easy to read quickly. Make sure you have multiple copies, at least one for yourself and one for your midwife, so you always have one in the delivery room to refer to.

I didn't think it had that much content, actually. I didn't really think about it anymore after that. But I did discuss it with the midwife and looked at some info on the website. I just thought it was important that they knew what I thought about pain relief, where I preferred to give birth, and who would be there.

I found a really handy list of examples through my app, Zwangerschap +, which you can tick if it applies to you. For me, it was a great recommendation. I also went through the birth plan with the midwife.

I don't think it needs to be super detailed. But just thinking about it beforehand is already important. What do you think about pain medication, who will be there, can an intern be present, what if complications arise, etc. You can write it down briefly and in bullet points.